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Ikpeazu diverted N10bn airport fund into road construction – Abia PDP

Published

6 months ago

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Vice Chairman and acting Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abia State, Abraham Amah, talks to DANIEL AYANTOYE about the aborted airport project, among other issues

In a recent statement, you disowned the comment of the former speakers of the state House of Assembly on the performance of the state Governor, Alex Otti. Does it mean that they did not speak the mind of your political party, the PDP?

In that statement, we made it very clear that as members of the Association of Former Speakers, have the right to pay a visit to the state governor. It’s part of their fundamental rights. There is no law against that. And for those of them who are members of the PDP, there is no law also in the party against that. So, they have the right to go to where they have gone. Whatever they had said, they also said on behalf of themselves and not on behalf of the party. Another very important thing to note is that the membership of that association cuts across several political parties in the state.

But is it not anti-party for PDP members in the group to visit and commend the governor in such a way that could portray an endorsement of the Labour Party government in the state?

The truth about it is that some politicians put their interests first before anything else. The major purpose of that visit was to engage the governor for him to consider the need to pay them a kind of pension every month as former members of the state House of Assembly because there was a subsisting law before, which took care of the interests of the former governors but did not take care of the interests of former speakers.

Also, because judiciary leaders get something when they leave office, they (former speakers) go to canvass for that. But unknown to them, the governor was already planning to abrogate the law that favours the former governors through the act of the State Assembly. When you lobby as a politician, you tell the person you are lobbying something that will make him happy, to be able to grant you what you want. That was exactly the card they played.

Unfortunately for them, the card was not able to attract anything. The situation is just that the public was not looking at it from the angle that they were former members of the State House of Assembly who visited the governor but from the angle of the PDP and that is the narrative most media houses were promoting.

How will you describe the request they presented to the governor? Is it justifiable or not?

There is no basis for me to say it’s justifiable or not. As I said, no law allows for such expenditure, as far as the state is concerned. What they should have done was to take that lobby to the state House of Assembly, and not to the governor. They should have lobbied the Speaker of the state House of Assembly and members and then sponsored a bill. That is the appropriate thing for them to have done. When they sponsor that bill and it is passed through first, second, and third reading, and then move it to the governor for assent, it is at about that time they can visit the governor to tender the request.

Does that mean they goofed in their tactics despite being former lawmakers?

Of course, they did.

The former lawmakers praised the governor’s performance in the state while endorsing his administration. Do you agree with their appraisal?

Unfortunately, he is less than one year but in the next couple of weeks, he will be one year in office. The only way to talk about performance is to look at what he has been able to receive from the Federation Account, what he has been able to generate through the internally generated revenue vis-à-vis the expenditure, and then we match this expenditure with what is visible on the ground. If we follow this format, I can assure you that many Abia people, today, think that the governor has not done well.

The governor (Otti) spends a lot of money on media and propaganda, and to a very large extent, he is enjoying the dividends of that propaganda, but such dividends can only last for a while. Let me just run down what was captured from the websites of the state government. In less than one year, the governor has spent N11.4bn to run the Governor’s Office, and as we speak, the governor operates from his private home. The fundamental question here is why a governor spends N11.4bn to run a Governor’s Office in his home. What is it that you are running in that home? I think we are in the 11th month; so, you are spending a little bit about over N1bn every month to run the Governor’s Office from your home. The governor has also spent N32.3bn on roads. The truth is that Abia people are asking, where are the roads?

Don’t you think that a government that can provide information about its expenditures and its income on its websites is transparent and can also be described as a performer?

That website was put in place by the former administration as a requirement of the World Bank for all the states in Nigeria. That is why they cannot shut it down. The first time their publications on that website were captured by the media, that website was shut down. But when there was a lot of pressure from the World Bank, It had to come up again. The website enables the World Bank to monitor the activities of the state government because of what they are doing in the various states across the country. So, it is not as if the state government put up the site on purpose. All the state governments have these websites for the purpose I mentioned.

There have been several reports of people applauding the performance of the governor, saying he is performing well in this state. Why is this so?

Let me analyse one of those major performance indicators they boast of. During a lecture at Johns Hopkins University, recently, the governor told the world that he met 10 years of unpaid pension arrears and that he had cleared these arrears. Everybody clapped for him. If you search on Google, you will also find out that several mainstream media have also reported on the clearance of 10 years of pension arrears in Abia State, whereas what was paid as pension arrears in Abia State was pension for nine months and not 10 years as he claimed.

The problem is that a lot of people don’t know how to verify these things. There is also a video that is trending about him building a seaport in Abia State. That is what an average Igbo man wants to hear. Most of these claims, with the support of artificial intelligence, we have people who can package them together and when they watch it, they believe that something like that is going whereas there is no stone laying or foundation or inauguration of any building or any seaport anywhere in the state.

Even as we speak, there is no document presented to the federal authorities saddled with the responsibility of approving a seaport much less of anybody building anything. We have this type of misinformation circulating everywhere. The people have bought into this information. They believe that these things are true. They don’t know that they are not true. So, today, the pensioners in Abia State are saying, ‘You cannot do this to us.’

Reach out to the pensioners and ask them, ‘How many months’ pension has been paid?’ If you look at the money they allocated for pension, in these documents, you’ll find out that it’s around N1bn. You will agree with me that the amount cannot be pension for 10 years. It’s under one-year pension arrears. He creates this narrative and pushes them.

How is this possible that?

When we talk about marketing, the banks in Nigeria, particularly the new-generation banks, came with innovation in marketing. The kind of innovation we have never seen before. When you talk about advertisements and those who pay the biggest money for advertisements, for radio and television, it’s Nigerian banks. So, he (Otti) brought that kind of innovation of marketing to governance.

Recently, the governor revealed that the previous government under PDP’s Okezie Ikpeazu spent billions of naira on a non-existing airport which was discovered through an audit report. How did this happen?

To conduct an audit requires by law that the auditor, as a matter of necessity, or compulsion, must engage the person or institution to be audited. That is, those who operate the business he is auditing, and ask them questions. That was why, when President Bola Tinubu’s administration appointed an auditor to do a forensic audit for the Central Bank of Nigeria, they had to go to where Emefele was detained, brought him out, and asked questions. You cannot do an audit without asking. So, you cannot conduct an audit without asking questions to the auditee.

Secondly, you accused a company of receiving N10bn, according to your report, but today, that same construction company remains your number one construction company. If you want to conduct an investigation, the first suspect is a person who received the money into his accounts because to receive the money into your accounts, you must deliver the services for which that money was meant.

So, was the money paid for the airport, and where is the airport?

The documents are available everywhere. Those who served in the government and others made those documents available. What happened was that when that N10bn loan was approved for the airports, members of Abia State Council of Chiefs; that is the traditional rulers, approached the governor and told him that from Aba to Port Harcourt was a maximum of one one-hour drive, from Umuahia to Uyo was one hour, from Umuahia to Owerri Airport was 45 minutes, and that we were like a state surrounded by three major airports and that what we needed at that moment was the construction of more roads because we had a lot of bad roads.

Based on that, the governor approached the House of Assembly and told them to do the necessary approval for that money which had been paid to the construction company that was already handling several road projects in Abia State to capture same for further jobs about road construction. The good thing is that the construction company is not a ghost, and the governor is still using them for projects to date. The governor does not mention the company, but the former governor, Ikpeazu.

I had expected the construction company as a responsible organised firm to issue a statement and tell the world about what they know and what they do not know about the N10bn, because as far as the law is concerned and as far as the best of investigators are concerned, the only body that can implicate the former government is the construction company, and the only way they can do that is to prove that they transmitted some of those monies back to Ikpeazu, and that will not make them free.

To the best of your knowledge, was the money channelled to road projects in the state, or was transmitted back to the state government?

It was used for the construction of roads in the states, and as we have said and I speak again today, there is no statement from the company itself.

Some have perceived the visit of the lawmakers to Governor Otti as an attempt to defect to the Labour Party. Is your party not concerned about this development?

I joined politics in the ‘90s as a young man; I contested my first election under the (United Nigeria Congress Party) UNCP on December 6, 1997. I won that election into the state House of Assembly. It has been the tradition of Nigerian politicians to defect, and each time a person defects, it creates room for other people to join. As I speak to you, prominent individuals are reaching out to the party that they want to join the PDP.

Many of those defecting are doing that for personal interest. They know better why they are doing what they are doing. As far as we are concerned, they have not also violated any known law, and our party is open to people. So, for us, it is a season of shedding leaves, and some of these leaves, I can assure you that many of those leaves will turn out to become manure for the same tree they fell from. So, do not be surprised that many of the people who are leaving the party (the PDP) today will still come back to the party to work for the party tomorrow. We have seen that happen on several occasions.

It was said that the division in your party led to the loss of the 2023 presidential election. Do you think there will be any difference in 2027?

Well, 2027 is still pregnant. I don’t want to dwell on that because I am a human being, a Christian, and an Elder in the Church. A lot of people will even die before that time. Sometimes when men talk, they don’t remember that people die. That I am alive now is all by the grace of God. So, I don’t know what will happen in the next minute or seconds from now. A lot of things will still happen between 2023 and 2027. So, don’t let us talk about that. What is on the ground now is that the party is preparing for the congress.

Of course, one thing that is always certain is that political parties adopt strategies ahead of the elections. Do you see the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, working for the PDP in 2027?

This is not the first time that a President appointed a member of another political party and we have seen it happen several in the history of this country. It happened in the First Republic. It also happened in the Second Republic during (Shehu) Shagari’s administration where some members of the Nigerian Peoples Party were given appointments by the then government. In the Third Republic, we saw it happen when Obasanjo himself did the same and they said the action was under the framework of Government of National Unity.

 

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Equatorial Guinea’s National Financial Investigation Agency DG, #BaltasarEngonga Sex tape Surfaces Online.. (Video)

Published

22 hours ago

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November 6, 2024

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The Director General, National Financial Investigation Agency in Equatorial Guinea, Baltasar Engonga, has been arrested for allegedly recording over 400 sextapes of the wives of notable people in the country.

The scandal emerged in the course of a fraud investigation against the 54-year-old Economist which resulted in the search of his house and office on impromptu notice by ANIF officials who came across several CDs that later revealed his sexcapades with different married women.

The videos reportedly include encounters with high-profile individuals, such as his brother’s wife, his cousin, the sister of the President of Equatorial Guinea, the Director General of Police’s wife, and about 20 of the country’s ministers’ wives, among others.

The footage, discovered in his personal office, was said to have been recorded with consent and has since been leaked online, causing a media uproar.

In a report by a local media platform, Ahora EG, since last October, Engonga has been involved in a sexual scandal unprecedented in the history of Equatorial Guinea.

The former ANIF DG better known as “Bello” had sexual relations with several women, some of them married, and filmed these intimate encounters.

The report read, “The most striking thing is that some scenes took place in his work office, including moments in which he is seen sleeping with a woman next to the National Flag. Based on this sexual scandal, the Executive has stated that the measure is a direct response to the acts that have affected the image of the country.

“With these new measures, the Government hopes to establish a clear precedent on the expected conduct of public officials in order to create a more respectful work environment in the public and private administration of Equatorial Guinea. For days now, erotic videos have been circulating on social media featuring Baltasar EBANG ENGONGA, better known as “Bello”, who is currently the Director General of the National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF) and is currently imprisoned for alleged corruption issues.

“Baltasar EBANG ENGONGA is said to have filmed these scenes with the consent of the women themselves, which exonerates him from a possible crime of violation of integrity. In the videos, he is seen having unprotected sex with several women, including those married to powerful and well-known people in the country, but also with the most “diva and influential” single women in Equatorial Guinea. Some scenes take place in hotel rooms, houses, even in the protagonist’s office at the Ministry of Finance,” it added.

However, speaking on the viral sextapes, the Attorney General of the country, Nzang Nguema, has stressed that, although the images suggest that the women involved were not forced to participate, the law does not consider consensual sexual relations to be a crime, unless coercion or violence is proven. This highlights the importance of victims reporting situations of sexual abuse or assault.

Nguema also emphasised that the risk is not only for the women involved but also for their partners and the wider community, adding, “The possibility of a contagious disease being spread through these sexual interactions makes the situation even more critical.

He further pointed out that the onus is on victims to come forward in cases of rape or assault, highlighting the need for an environment where people feel safe and supported to report such incidents.

Reacting to the development on Monday, Equatorial Guinea has decided to take action by immediately suspending all officials who have had sexual relations in the offices of the country’s ministries.

The government claimed that the decision was part of its “zero tolerance” policy towards behaviour that compromises the integrity of the public service.

The Vice President of the Republic, Nguema Mangue, has pointed out that these behaviours constitute a flagrant violation of the Code of Conduct and the Public Ethics Law.

In his publication on X, he emphasized that “ethics and respect are fundamental in our Administration,” and that irresponsible attitudes that put citizen trust at risk will not be allowed.

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‘I’ll make you disappear’ says Abia Rep, Alex Ikwechegh, who slaps uber driver twice

Published

1 week ago

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October 28, 2024

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A member of the House of Representatives, Alex Ikwechegh, on Sunday, assaulted an e-hailing (Bolt) driver who went to deliver a package to him.

The distressed driver whose name is yet unknown in a viral video filmed what transpired between them in Ikwechegh’s residence in Maitama, Abuja.

The video depicted the visibly angered Reps member representing Aba North & South Federal Constituency (APGA) repeatedly slapping and insulting the driver for telling him to come out and get the snail the driver was meant to deliver to him.

In the footage, Ikwechegh insisted that the request was disrespectful given his social status while threatening to make the driver “disappear” without facing any consequences.

“Do you know who I am? I can make this man (driver) disappear in the whole of Nigeria and nothing will happen. Can you imagine this rat? I am not going to give this boy one naira of my money.

Watch the video here: https://t.co/3yBaK8WgiR

“I am not going to call my policemen to beat you up, I will do that myself. I will show that I am a big brother to you, tie you up, lie you down and put you in my generator house. Do you know where you are? Because you saw me sitting outside here. Look at this monkey.”

When the driver requested the delivery fee, the politician slapped him multiple times querying if the driver knew who he was talking to.

“Do you know who I am I just slapped you and there’s nothing you will do. My name is Honourable Alex Ikwechegh, tell them (public) I slapped you. Call the Inspector General of Police that I slapped you, let him come. Record me very well,” he boasted.

Recall that in September 2023, the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Umuahia, Abia State capital, led by Justice Adeyinka Aderibigbe, sacked Emeka Nnamani, who is a member of the Labour Party and ordered that a certificate of return be issued to Ikwechegh, a candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), who came second in the 2023 general election.

Nnamani was sacked based on certificate forgery.

The Appeal Court had in 2015 on the petition of Blessing Nwagba, sacked Nnamani on the ground that he was not a registered member of his then party, APGA in his ward at the time of the election and equally directed the police to investigate the allegation of certificate forgery against Nnamani, who said he graduated from the University of Port Harcourt.

After the Tribunal judgment, there was a report (not The PUNCH) that the tribunal sacked Nnamani because of certificate forgery and that there was a court ruling banning him from participating in elections for 10 years.

Although the lawmaker has debunked and described it as a “lie from the pit of hell”, adding, “There was nothing like the court banning me, Emeka Nnamani, for 10 years from contesting an election in Nigeria. That’s a fallacy and a fabrication from the pit of hell, used regularly by opposition parties to pull us back.

“The records of what the court said at that time in 2015 are there. I do not want to bring the competence of the court into question because our jurisprudence is a perfect one and works according to the evidence available to them.

“As of 2015, there were lots of hiccups that my opponent took advantage of mentioning the institution they mentioned, and the institution has since then said that they had issues with the exams and records of the school, which led to misplacement of some records when they were moving from analogue to digital records keeping.

“There were cases of missing records and somebody went to that institution and took advantage of such a problem. But since then, the institution has cleared me,” he maintained.

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Alleged Defamation, Cyberstalking of GTCO, CEO: Defendants Are Serial Blackmailers, Witness Tells Court

Published

2 weeks ago

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October 25, 2024

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As the trial of four bloggers charged with alleged defamation and Cyberstalking Guaranty Trust Holding Company as well as its Management resumed today, the Investigating Police Officer, IPO, Mr Yaqob Sule informed the court that the first defendant in the case, Mr Precious Eze is a serial blackmailer.

 

The IPO, the first prosecution witness In the matter, made this known while testifying before Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court, Lagos today.

 

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Chief Ajibola Aribisala, SAN, Sule told Justice Ayokunle Faji that during the investigation, it was discovered that the first defendant, Precious Eze had been arraigned before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate Court, Lagos early this year and was only admitted to bail on the 31 of May only for him to commit another similar offense.

 

These facts were made known at the resumption of the trial today after the four bloggers Precious Eze, Olawale Rotimi, Rowland Olonishuwa, and Seun Odunlami were re-arraigned on a fresh 10 counts amended charges for alleged cyberstalking and publishing false allegations through various social media outlets against GTCO, its management and Group CEO. Mr Segun Agbaje.

 

While being led in evidence by the prosecutor, Yaqob Sule told the court that on the 19th of September 2024 the Commissioner of Police, SFU, Ikoyi minuted a petition from GTCO legal consultant to his team and was directed to take charge of the petition as the Investigation Police Officer.

 

Sule said the kernel of the petition was libelous publications, breach of peace, and an attempt to extort all linked to publications.

 

He added that as an IPO he tried to open the links and saw the publications against GTCO, GTbank, the CEO, Management, and the Central Bank of Nigeria among others.

 

He added that after the arrest of the four defendants, their statements were taken. They own up to being behind the publications but confessed that they did not confirm the story’s authenticity before posting it on their blogs.

 

Sule added that the defendants also denied asking for money before they could pull down the story.

 

While investigating we discovered that the 4th defendant had registered two platforms, Newsjaunts.com and Thevision.com, and that it was through the Thevision.com platform that the 4th defendant used to negotiate for funds with the GTCO legal consultant before he would pull the story down.

 

The witness said that during the investigation, they profiled the defendants and took their fingerprints for forensic analysis and found out that the first defendant had earlier been arraigned for a similar offense at Ebute-Meta Chief Magistrate Court, Lagos early in May this year and was granted bail on 31st of May this year before committing this offense again.

 

The defendants counsel however refused the prosecution’s attempt to tender the

statements of the defendants made to the police on the ground that the statements were not voluntarily made.

 

Consequent upon the objection, the trial judge ordered trial within the trial of the case and adjourned the matter till tomorrow.

 

It will be recalled that the Body of Bank CEOs recently issued a statement expressing concern over the persistent and unwarranted attacks on social media directed at Nigerian banks. It noted that The Nigerian banking industry is the most regulated sector in the country. Banks are subject to stringent regulations as financial services companies by the primary regulator, the country’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and several other direct and indirect regulators. A large number of banks are publicly quoted and subject themselves to global scrutiny by domestic and international regulators and

investors.

 

The banking sector plays a pivotal role in the economic development of Nigeria, contributing significantly to both individual and growth of businesses of all sizes and the society at large.

 

Without gainsaying, the development of the economy rests significantly on the banking sector and its intermediation roles. If any individual or group has grievances or concerns regarding the operations of any bank, we strongly encourage that such complaints be directed to the appropriate regulatory authorities.

 

It went further to say that resorting to social media attacks, blackmail, or smear campaigns against banks and the banking sector not only undermines the hard-earned reputation of these institutions but also seeks to unfairly manipulate the targeted banks.

 

“We strongly urge individuals engaging in such activities to desist and consider the facts before making accusations. Regulatory agencies are well-equipped to handle such concerns with impartiality, diligence, and professionalism, ensuring that all issues are addressed through the proper channels.

 

We remain committed to delivering the highest standard of banking services, and we will continue to operate with the utmost professionalism, guided by the rules and regulations that govern our industry.

 

Together, let us encourage an environment of trust and collaboration rather than division; citizens should desist from criminalizing a highly professional sector that has brought glory to Nigeria and Africa, as the banking sector works hard individually and collectively to build a stronger and more resilient Nigerian economy that works for everyone”

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